As is known, a railway vehicle is supported on a series of railway axles or shafts, each of which is composed of an axle on to which the wheels are fixed; each end of the axle is supported by an axle box linked by suspension to the carriage. As shown in FIG. 1, denoted as “Prior Art”, each axle box 4 comprises a rolling bearing 5 mounted on a smaller-diameter end 3 of a railway axle 2, called the journal, and an end stop cap 11, which is fastened integrally to a free end 22 of the journal 3 by means of screws 12.
The end stop cap 11 is subjected to relatively high stresses which may cause its elastic deformation by bending, and patent application TO2013A000741, on behalf of the present applicant, describes a end stop cap 11 having an end wall 14 shaped so as to limit these deformations at the center of the end stop cap 11, which is usually made in the form of a concave disc and is bent inwards towards the journal, and at a peripherally outer edge of the cap, which is bent in such a way as to move axially away from the bearing. Although the stop cap 11 described above has proven to be of significant use for limiting these deformations, which, even if very small, may give rise to numerous problems, it has not proven to be as useful in terms of meeting the increasing requirements for weight reduction.